474 detained last week in Turkey for ‘promoting PYD/PKK on social media’

474 detained last week in Turkey for ‘promoting PYD/PKK on social media’

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

A total of 474 suspects were detained across Turkey last week for “promoting” the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) on socialmedia, the Interior Ministry stated on Feb. 12.

In a written statement, the ministry said Turkish security forces arrested the suspects during nationwide raids, amid the military’s ongoing “OperationOliveBranch” in the northeastern Syrian district of Afrin.

Some 192 suspects were also detained over involvement in protests against the Afrin operation.

Turkey launched “OperationOliveBranch” along with elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Jan. 20, aiming to remove the YPG from Afrin.

The statement added security forces carried out 1,053 counter-terror operations between Feb. 5 and Feb. 12. Some 25 militants were “neutralized” in these operations, 353 were captured on charges of aiding and abetting the PKK, and 66 others were taken into custody for alleged links to ISIL, the ministry added.

The Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply that the militants in question either surrendered or were killed or detained.

Police also detained 568 more people over suspected ties to the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), believed to have been behind Turkey’s July 2016 coup attempt, according to the Interior Ministry.

The statement said that 57 shelters and caves used by PKK militants and 10 improvised explosive devices and mines were destroyed in controlled detonations in the provinces of Batman, Bingöl, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Hatay, Mardin, Siirt, Şırnak, Tunceli and Van.